Review and Measurements of NAD C 320BEE PWR Amplifier

[drchen]

Interesting to dig this review out! I bought a C320BEE back in 2016. Ever since, I paired C320BEE with a SONY CD/SACD player and B&W DM601 S2 speakers. I haven't tested though with other speakers or input, it sounds alright since I can't really turn the volume too big in my terraced house, which is not really soundproofing Maybe I have never pushed it to 67 watts, but hopefully B&W DM601 S2 are good for it, both ancient!

 

[Jungstar]

Interesting to dig this review out! I bought a C320BEE back in 2016. Ever since, I paired C320BEE with a SONY CD/SACD player and B&W DM601 S2 speakers. I haven't tested though with other speakers or input, it sounds alright since I can't really turn the volume too big in my terraced house, which is not really soundproofing Maybe I have never pushed it to 67 watts, but hopefully B&W DM601 S2 are good for it, both ancient!

Did you use the Power Amp alone and list for differences....

 

[musicforcities]

I have one of these. Never really liked it. I kept reading, and just did again that it was a pretty a good unit. but whatever speakers I used it with, it just sounded sort of anemic and thin in the lower midrange, no matter if I bypassed the preamp section or not. I have other similarly powered and priced amps that all sound better to my ears though I do not know how they measure. my anima 7 is miles better.....

plus, and the input sensitivity is also super high for most modern sources, which means I only ever used the first quarter of the volume knob range...which doesn't help I know. the caps started bulging in a matter of a few years as some are next to hot components or heat sinks and the thermal management design leavers a bit to be desired. now I am sure its well out of spec.

 

[musicforcities]

The C275BEE power amp has signal sensing.

hope they improved the signal sensing from the c272...where is was pretty much useless. and they improved the quality of the board layout and components and pcb; the c272 would blow capacitors because many caps were super cheap and because so many were so close heatsinks and other heat sources. the pcb would brown from the heat. and good luck repairing it because the traces are so thin and badly made they lift if you look at a desoldering tool.

 

[fergrorke]

I picked up a little-used C320BEE a few years ago but didn't do any serious listening through it until this year. Streaming from the audio jack of my laptop into the integrated amp was decidedly murky so I decided to up the game with a Chrord Mojo2 DAC plugged into the power amp section. This made a spectacular difference. Until recently I was listening through a pair of Mourdaunt-Short MS25i (nominal 8 Ohms, 89dB sensitivity) which originated in the late '90s and sounded pretty good, especially as they cost me nothing. A few weeks ago these were replaced with new the Prodigy 5 from PMC (nominal 6 Ohms, 87.3dB sensitivity) which of course provide another big step in sound quality. So the NAD can be now be clearly identified as weakest link in my system but I'm in no hurry to replace it. I get that having extra power overhead is a good thing but the NAD is plenty loud enough for my 11x10 foot listening room without getting anywhere near maxing the Mojo2's output. A barman in Prague once observed to me that there's not much that his establishment can do to make beer taste better but a lot things that can make it taste worse and I reckon it is much the same with amplifiers. In power amp mode the NAD C320BEE does the job without changing the music so what's not to like?

 

[peng]

So the NAD can be now be clearly identified as weakest link in my system but I'm in no hurry to replace it.

Why is it now clearly the weakest link in your system, is it in terms of power output? Thanks.

 

[Booker]

In my case, I would not say the weakest, but the cheapest

 

[My adventures in stereo]

I still have one of these, not the most powerful out there

 

[musicforcities]

Enjoy it until the caps go bad. Then don’t bother recapping. Or only recap just the ones you really have to. The pcbs are too cheaply made to make repair feasible.

 

[fergrorke]

Why is it now clearly the weakest link in your system, is it in terms of power output? Thanks.

Weakest as in I reckon both the the Chord Mojo2 and PMC Prodigy 5 can deliver more with a higher-quality power amp sitting between them (least way that's what their respective reviewers suggest). Power's not an issue for me as my listening room is not large. If I moved the system down to our much larger open plan living room/dinning room then it might be found wanting.

 

[fergrorke]

In my case, I would not say the weakest, but the cheapest

That too. I paid the equivalent $128 for it and as I'm only using half of it that equates to $64 which is quite a bargain.

 

[fergrorke]

Enjoy it until the caps go bad. Then don’t bother recapping. Or only recap just the ones you really have to. The pcbs are too cheaply made to make repair feasible.

Sounds like a plan!

 

[Mr.Christiee]

Hi,

ASR lurker for some time.. this 320BEE review encouraged me to register
First of all thank you @amirm also for all other reviews, measurements here and great concept for this forum.

This NAD was actually my first serious amp (cca 20y ago). I've purchased it together with two nearfield passive monitors. I thought it was really great amp for its "budget" category. At least to me, when I compared it to some other contenders back then.. Especially apparent clarity and "heft" it provided among small amps. It was quite common and recommended setup for lot of people around me. So I definitely subscribe to its "classic" status

Later, when I got some standalone DA converter with adjustable output level (and it become my sole audio source), I tried to bypass its pre, removed jumper and feed its power amp directly. As I can recall, it seemed to be like improvement at the time over built-in preamp.. and later found, quite a few other NAD owners used it the same way.
Honestly I'm curious, what it really did Can you try to measure, what that do with noisefloor.. say in your 5W THD+N test?

All the best,

Michal

Hey Michal,

I also would like to use the NAD 320BEE as a poweramp with a Wiim streamer/DAC.

Does this amp have auto-on feature? (Either through line audio detection or 12V trigger)

Thnx!

 

[ManuMaker]

Here is the performance of the NAD C 320BEE Power amp alone (bypassing the pre-amp) as requested:

View attachment 31535

The noise floor drops a lot, revealing other spurious tones.

Here is the power curve into 4 ohm:

View attachment 31536

So you are definitely better off driving the power amp direct if you have a DAC with volume control.

Here is the performance of the NAD C 320BEE Power amp alone (bypassing the pre-amp) as requested:

View attachment 31535

The noise floor drops a lot, revealing other spurious tones.

Here is the power curve into 4 ohm:

View attachment 31536

So you are definitely better off driving the power amp direct if you have a DAC with volume control.

Hello!! I got a nad 325bee and a loxjie d30, a dac with volume control, do you recomen go direct to the power main in? also use y adaptors yo connect a subwoofer, many thanks hope you can answer!!!

 

[msmucr]

Hey Michal,

I also would like to use the NAD 320BEE as a poweramp with a Wiim streamer/DAC.

Does this amp have auto-on feature? (Either through line audio detection or 12V trigger)

Thnx!

Hi Mr. Christie,

it should be quite nice amp for something like Wiim. However it doesn't feature trigger input unfortunately, it has only trigger output. You can power-up some other downstream devices with NAD, but not the other way around, which is what you asked for.

So either you can live with that inconvenience, or you'll have to solve that externally. If I recall correctly (it's over 20 year), the 320 BEE had latching power switch, so when its kept on (depressed) you can use external mains input for powering the amp. There are devices like this Audiophonics box, which passes mains only when trigger voltage is present - https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/diy-...v-230v-slave-power-supply-device-p-10661.html
That's only option, which came to my mind.

Michal

 

[Musicofchance]

I had this back in the days, one of my first stereo amp. Bought it for 100€ used if I remember well.

Same. But its the orrible light silver version.

 

[VintageFlanker]

But its the orrible light silver version.

Even more horrible that it is made of plastic. Plastic silver... so late 90's/early 2000's.

 

[Musicofchance]

Even more horrible that it is made of plastic. Plastic silver... so late 90's/early 2000's.

its a love hate relationship.

 

[Yersinia Bestmate]

I have an old C 320BEE from around 2004 working as a power amp in my 2.2 stereo set. Fed by a NAD C162 preamp from Topping E30II Lite (usb to laptop, Tidal) and driving a pair of Magnat Quantum 757's, it sounds absolutely lovely and controlled.

Bought it second-hand 2 years ago with 25€ (there's something wrong with the preamp). Replaced the main filter caps and as it was disassembled already for inspecion, I painted the cover, front panel and all buttons separately matte-black (it was the horrible silver) and now it blends nicely with the other gear in the set, both sonically and visually. There definitely is punch in this amp, pushing Quantums totally effortlesly and no problems with insensitive little Elac standmounts either.

At some point, when the Nad fails, I'm going to replace it along wth the subwoofer amp (which is atm a cooling fan-modded t.amp E-400) with modern class-D electronics. It may take a while though, as it seems that the Nad is not going anywhere soon.

 

[DanielT]

When it comes to used amps, I think those that are around 20-25 years old, that come from recognized good manufacturers, are some of the best bang for the buck amps you can buy. I can't generalize all makes and models into that fold but for example NAD and Yamaha should be counted there.

You can probably count 20-25 years as vintage, but it is possible to get hold of such an old medium powered amplifier for very little money AND if they have not been used much, the electronics have not worn out that much. That may be the case. I've seen so many ads that look more or less the same, something like this:
Since we now use SONOS (insert any wireless solution), we/I no longer need X. It hasn't been used in the last few years/decade...has been in a closet for the last...
Fully functional X for sale, bought a few decades ago but has barely been used after purchase of home theater...SONOS...wireless or...and so on.

Another reason for the low second-hand price is that 20-25 years may be seen as vintage BUT for the vintage lovers it is the 1970s that apply (maybe a bit into the 1980s). Check out the 1970s Sansui for example. It can be ridiculously high prices.
What speaks for these 1970s models is the appearance. If you are willing to pay for an interior detail, I understand that, but the performance? Here's what Restorer-John said about that:

#15 in the thread:

The mystery of "poorly calibrated" amplifiers

I owned quite some amps througout the decades. A few years ago I bought a Pioneer SA5300 for a good price. The lightest and a really good looking amp in its series. I couldn't resist as it felt like a save from the junkyard. After a total cleanup, paintjob, revision and adding a fresh pair of...

audiosciencereview.com

Anyway. Medium powered amplifiers that are around 20-25 years old from NAD and Yamaha win nowadays, in my eyes, no beauty contests, but they have good performance. So if you can live with the looks and physical size (compared to small modern class D amps) it's a good buy. In addition, these 20-25 year old amplifiers are not load dependent like many small class D amplifiers are. I think that in itself should really be weighed as a positive factor in their favor.

Two examples:
Receiver NAD C720BEE.Big for relatively few watts and ugly, but if you can live with that, it's definitely good. Receiver NAD C720BEE same amplifier section as NAD C 320BEE):

Yamaha AX-396 is perhaps not the amp to compete in a beauty contest either, but check out the performance:

Review and Measurements of vintage Yamaha AX-396 integrated amplifier

Review and Measurements of vintage Yamaha AX-396 integrated amplifier This review shows measurements of Yamaha AX-396 integrated amplifier, ser. no. Y399871TV, made in Malaysia. I bought this amplifier in the year 2002 and have been using it shortly. Then it was sleeping in my stock and 5...

audiosciencereview.com